SWFL joins 2018 Women's March

People across the nation and in Southwest Florida gathered Saturday for the 2018 Women's March.

Collier Freedom organized the Naples event, "Women Together for Freedom March and Rally."

The crowd was energized and excited, carrying signs calling for a revolution.

"I came with my mom and my two daughters to kind of stand up for what we believe in as women," said Chloe Lamb of Naples.

Hundreds of thousands gathered at last year's event in Washington D.C., the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration. Millions across the country followed suit, including in Collier County.

This year, the nationwide theme was "Women March on the Polls."

Participants in Naples said they were taking that theme seriously as they marched for change.

"We're here to make it known that we want big changes in 2018 and we’re willing to work for it and we’re gonna come together and energize ourselves to be sure that we have a very different balance in our congressional House and Senate in 2018," said Kathleen Davey.

Collier Freedom said they had 4,000 people show up at last year's event, and about the same turned up for this year's.

"The objective is to galvanize and to mobilize women to run for office and to vote every single time," said Michael Sales with Collier Freedom.

One family came to support the #MeToo movement, to support their daughter — a survivor of sexual assault.

Her father said he was proud to march for the women in his life.

"A lot of women in my family, a lot of good women, they deserve better," he said.

Most Popular Stories

2018-02-22T03:09:16Z2018-02-22T03:09:16ZAnother threat has been made to a Southwest Florida school, this time in Fort Myers. A photo of a kid holding a gun with the message, "I'll show you *** a school shooting," made its rounds on social media on Wednesday. The student reportedly attends Cypre

2018-02-21T01:47:33Z2018-02-21T01:47:33ZDays after the deadly school shooting in Florida, a man named Aaron chose to write to NBC affiliate KUSA, and share his personal story about how he was almost a school shooter.

2018-02-22T03:55:03Z2018-02-22T03:55:03ZRepublican Sen. Marco Rubio was put on the defensive Wednesday by angry students, teachers and parents who are demanding stronger gun-control measures after the shooting rampage that claimed 17 lives at a Florida high school.